


Do you love me?

by Anonymous



Series: Good things cum in threes [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Age Play Little Keith (Voltron), Age Regression/De-Aging, Angst, Anxiety, Bottom Keith (Voltron), Child Abuse, Crying, Don't wanna give anything away - Freeform, Foster Kid Keith (Voltron), Hospitalization, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) Needs a Hug, Lance and Shiro are mean at first, M/M, Married Lance/Shiro (Voltron), Mental Health Issues, Non-Sexual Age Play, Non-Sexual Age Regression, Oral Sex, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sad Keith (Voltron), Sick Keith (Voltron), Sugar Baby Keith (Voltron), Sugar Daddy Lance (Voltron), Sugar Daddy Shiro (Voltron), Therapy, Top Lance (Voltron), Top Shiro (Voltron), injured keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:46:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25437907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Keith is starting to have doubts in his polyamorous relationship with Lance and Shiro. Shiro and Lance were married and Keith was just their boyfriend. When Lance and Shiro's behavior starts to bother Keith he can't help but question things in his head. Unfortunately Keith is also not feeling well. When Shiro and Lance are not there when Keith needs them, who else will step up to the plate? Will Shiro and Lance be able to prove their love to Keith?
Relationships: Hunk & Keith (Voltron), Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith/Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Lance/Shiro (Voltron)
Series: Good things cum in threes [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1797697
Comments: 55
Kudos: 426
Collections: anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

The first sign that Keith got that something was wrong was that he noticed that his clothing was a little looser. Keith always been skinny but after living with Shiro and Lance he was able to put on enough weight to be considered healthy. He knew that his appetite had decreased some recently, but he didn’t think that it would have been enough to cause concern. He was still eating. There was a scale in the bathroom, but Keith did not want to weigh himself. He didn't want to know how much he weighed. If something was wrong surely one of his boyfriends would have noticed. 

Shiro and Lance hadn't really been paying too much attention to him though and it was wearing Keith down. This past Friday night Keith waited until three in the morning for Shiro and Lance to come home. Keith had been texting and calling them all night but they gave no notice when they were coming home. It turns out that they had gone out for drinks with one of their prospective clients after work. 

"We're sorry Keith. We got wrapped up in the moment and didn't pay attention to our phones. We didn't really think you would mind the alone time." Shiro said as he was drunkenly getting into his pajamas. 

"You wouldn't have fit in where we went babe. It's not really your type of crowd." Lance said as he also drunkenly got ready for bed. "You're more like a dive bar crowd and these people were suit and tie executives. Right babe?" 

Shiro got into bed and mumbled "Yeah baby you wouldn't have liked it at all."

Lance and Shiro drifted off into a drunken slumber and Keith had been up thinking all night. Did he fit into their lifestyle? Were Lance and Shiro wanting someone that would fit in more?

The long nights out didn't stop there. They had an important client that they were trying to get a deal from which caused long hours in the office and a lot of agitation. The agitation followed them when they came home. Shiro and Lance would often argue about important decisions over dinner, which honestly deterred Keith away from eating. An argument last night had gotten so bad that Shiro wound up breaking a glass. It honestly had been an accident, but Keith was terrified. He ran to his room scared, secretly hoping that one of them would see his distress and follow him, but they continued to argue. Keith eventually fell asleep and when he woke up, he found that his boyfriends were already asleep in their own room. 

Keith's heart sank. No one thought to come after him after he ran away scared. Usually if Keith fell asleep in his room, Shiro would come and pick him up and bring them to their shared bed. Keith willed the tears away as he went back to sleep. Maybe things would be better the next day.

Things were, in fact, not better the next day. He slept in until 2 in the afternoon, which he did not want to do. When Keith woke up, he had a pounding headache and overall, just felt weak. He felt like his limbs weighed a hundred pounds each. He also noticed that he was quite cold. Maybe Lance had put the AC on too high again? When he moved to get out of bed and stand up his head felt weird. His limbs felt staticky and he felt like his head was attempting to fly away. Keith caught himself on his nightstand before he fell. 

Was he sick? Although he felt like trash, he didn’t think that he had a fever. Keith began to walk to his closet, and he realized how shaky he really was. His steps felt unassured and he couldn’t understand why he was so cold. Keith bypassed his closet and decided to go into the bathroom instead to take his temperature and a hot shower. His temperature was normal, a little lower than his normal if anything. Keith then cranked the hot water, stripped out of his clothes, and got underneath the stream. He stood in the flow of hot water for a long time but no matter how hot he put it, he felt like he couldn't warm up. 

Frustrated, he got out of the shower and quickly made his way to the closet. He threw on black underwear and a pair of thick black leggings. He then put on a t-shirt and one of Shiro's sweatshirts. Although Lance's sweatshirts were big on Keith too, Shiro's were so big it felt like he was wrapped in a giant blanket. He grabbed his kitty blanket off the bed and phone then made his way to the living room. 

On the way there he stopped to check the thermostat. It said that it was 72 degrees which didn’t make sense to Keith. He cranked it up to 74 for good measure and continued his way to the big fluffy couch. He flopped on the couch and turned on the TV. No matter what Keith did he couldn't get warm. He was shivering and his hands were shaking as he tried to find something to watch on Netflix. The chill honestly felt painful because it felt like it was originating from and hurting his bones. 

He dropped the remote and picked up his phone. His condition wasn't getting any better and he needed to go to the doctor. He still felt lightheaded and exhausted. Maybe he should call Shiro or Lance? He debated it for a while, but he settled for texting instead. 

_To: Shiro; Lance_

_Hey, um I know you are busy but I think something is wrong. I don’t feel so great. Can one of you call me? Love you._

Keith was struggling to text because his hands and fingers were shaking so bad. He put his phone off to the side and continued to watch the cooking competition show that he had put on. After an hour of waiting for a reply he must have drifted off. 

He was woken up by Lance storming through the front door. He jumped when Lance screamed, "Why didn't you answer your phone, princess?"

Keith rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and reached for the phone. He saw that he had two missed calls from Lance. "I'm sorry I fell asleep on the couch." 

"Why is it so fricking hot in here?" Lance said as he made his way to the thermostat. "74? What idiot put it on 74?"

Keith went to stand up, but he couldn’t get his legs to work right and he felt his head leave his body for a second when he sat up. He opted to lay back down since it was the safer option and his head didn’t spin. 

"I did, I'm really cold." Keith said as he watched Lance adjust the temperature despite Keith voicing that he was cold. 

Lance made his way back to the living room and stood in front of Keith with his arms crossed. "What was so important that you interrupted us during our big planning? You know how important this deal is to us. You look pretty damn fine to me. The only thing I notice is that you are a bit pale." Lance said as he reached his hand out to check Keith's temperature. "And it feels like you don't have a fever. You feel fine to me." 

"I'm sorry, I just feel really c-cold and I feel very lightheaded and dizzy and I-" Keith was cut off by Lance's phone ringing. 

Lance answered it, "Yeah?...No I'm home…He looks fine babe…What?! Tomorrow?!...I'll be back soon…No, he didn’t cook…Yeah I'll pick something up for us…Love you too." Lance hung up the phone. 

Keith felt bad at the comment about him not cooking but honestly, he didn’t trust himself standing at this point.

"Our proposal day got moved to tomorrow. Shiro and I will be at the office late. You will have to make something here or order out. If you feel bad call Hunk and he can come over, Shiro and I can't afford to be distracted right now." Lance said as he made his way to the door. "Love you!" He said as he closed the door, not giving Keith the chance to reply. 

Did they really love him though? They had been avoiding Keith for a couple of weeks now. He was surprised that Lance even came home to check on him. The past couple weeks his texts were either ignored or he got a blunt reply. Then on top of that they weren’t bringing Keith to bed with them either. Usually they all slept together with Keith in the middle. There had also been a lapse in their sex life while this proposal drained the life out of his boyfriends and their relationship. 

Maybe they didn’t feel the same way towards Keith anymore? Maybe he had messed up in the past couple of weeks. He knew that their job was hard on them and Keith wasn't working at the moment. Maybe they were upset with Keith because he didn’t have a job? They never voiced that Keith should work as they were quite happy with taking care of Keith, but maybe their opinions changed? 

What if they were no longer attracted to Keith? They hadn't really spared a look his way or touched him for quite some time. They liked his size before but what if he was too skinny for them now? What if they no longer needed him in the relationship? They were married after all and Keith was just their boyfriend. What if they wanted to keep their relationship just between them?

Keith's heart broke as he ran over all of the possible scenarios in his head. He began to cry as his mind continued to plague him. When he woke up, he felt himself moving. He jumped a bit and accidentally headbutted whoever was carrying him. 

"Fuck Keith!" He heard Shiro swear. 

Keith closed his eyes because the hit to his head and being carried was scrambling his brain. 

"Sorry!" Keith yelled back. 

Shiro laid him down on their shared bed before he went over to check his nose in the mirror. 

"What time is it?" Keith groggily asked as he began to situate himself under the covers. 

"A little after midnight." Shiro answered as he made his way back to the bed to lie down. He rolled over, facing away from Keith. 

"Did you finish everything?" Keith asked. 

Shiro sighed. "Yes, but we really need to sleep tonight baby." Shiro answered. 

"Ok, sorry." Keith replied, sad. 

Lance made his way to the bed and got under the covers. He too decided to face away from Keith. "Night babe. Hope you are feeling better." Lance said as he made his way to sleep.

Keith lay in bed and he began to think all of those deprecating thoughts that he was thinking earlier. He started feeling stressed and subconsciously felt himself try to slip into a different headspace, but he fought it and wouldn't let himself. He continued to shake and shiver as the nagging and stabbing cold in his bones came back. He couldn’t help his slight shaking, he just hurt so bad. 

It continued for a good ten minutes before he heard Shiro say "Keith, we have a really important day tomorrow and need to sleep. If you are going to move around like that then you need to go to your own bed." Shiro sounded serious. 

Keith's heart sank a bit before he considered his options. They really did have an important day tomorrow and they didn’t need to be disturbed by Keith. Keith slowly made his way out of bed, which was difficult on shaky limbs. Before he left, he saw Shiro turn over and grab onto Lance to spoon him. It felt as though he had been stabbed in the heart. 

Keith made his way over to his room as he started crying. They were really happy without him. They didn’t need him there. Still freezing he crawled into his bed and fell asleep while looking at cat videos on his phone to hopefully cheer himself up. 

Keith didn't wake up until late the next day again. He felt even worse today if it was possible. His body was shaking and he couldn't control it. He wondered if it could be too that he hadn't eaten anything in almost two days. He knew he needed to eat something, so he slowly got himself into an upright position, phone in hand. When he stood up, he felt his legs give out and his head felt like static. He felt himself falling but he couldn't grab anything this time. Next thing he knew he felt an intense pain in his head and he was knocked out before he hit the ground.

When he came to, he was very groggy and there was a sharp pain in his head. Keith slowly opened his eyes and saw that there was blood on the floor in front of him. He jerked fast which shook his head too much and caused him to whine. He put his hand up to his head to feel around and he found a bump on his left temple. When he pulled his hand away it came back bloodied. 

Keith was kind of still foggy but worrying as he saw the blood. He needed help. He reached for his phone which also had some blood on it. He rolled himself onto his back to make things a little bit easier. It felt a little better that he didn't have to hold his head up. He wiped his phone on his sweater before he looked at it.

He looked at the time. It was about seven minutes after he tried to get out of bed. This caused anxiety to bubble up inside him. He felt his headspace slowly start to slip. He tried his best to fight it but he was getting increasingly scared, especially since he still felt blood dripping slowly. He went to his contacts prepared to call his daddies, but he stopped. They were busy today. Today was an important day.

He started to cry due to pain and frustration, still fighting that desire to slip. He didn't want to bother anyone else, but he called Hunk. Hunk and Pidge shared an apartment in their building and had a spare key.

Keith pressed Hunk's contact and sluggishly and shakily brought it to his ear. The loud dial tone made him wince and whine, but eventually after the fifth ring Hunk picked up. 

"Hello? Keith?" Hunk asked.

Keith kept crying as he felt his resolve crumbling. 

"Keith is that you buddy?" Hunk asked. "I can hear you, are you crying?" 

Keith whined louder before the dam broke. He was shaking, crying, hurt, sad, and cold. He was at his breaking point. He felt himself slip a bit. "Hunk!" Keith yelled a bit. "H-help! I-I f-falled! N-no feel g-good!" Keith cried, coughing a bit since he was crying so hard.

"Oh my god, do you need me to get you? Are you home? Pidge and I are coming up now. Please don't cry baby." 

Keith continued crying as Hunk talked sweet nothings into the phone. Hunk could tell that Keith was slipping in and out of headspace. It didn't happen often, but sometimes when things were too much for Keith he would regress in age. In the two years that he had known him Hunk has only seen it happen twice. The first time Keith had been really sick and the second time the trio had gotten into a small car accident. Something must have really been up.

When Hunk and Pidge got to the door they quickly unlocked it, not bothering to knock since they were certain Keith was in no state to answer the door. They could hear Keith crying from one of the bedrooms. They quickly made it to the room and they were not prepared for what they found. 

Keith was laying on the ground with blood around his head and he was crying and shaking. 

"Fuck! I'll call 911. You grab something to put pressure on his head and try to calm him down." Pidge ordered as she went into the kitchen where it was quiet enough for her to call for help. 

Hunk sprang into action grabbing a shirt that he saw tossed to the side. He didn't want to lift Keith because he didn't know if he was injured elsewhere. 

"Hey buddy, I know that this is going to hurt but we need to try to stop the bleeding." Hunk said as he put pressure. If it was possible Keith cried harder as the shirt was pressed to his head. He was feeling increasingly colder and he was a bit confused. His head hurt bad too and he was starting to feel nauseous, especially from the crying. 

"We gotta calm you down bud, can you breathe with me? Try and breathe with me baby. Take three breaths in for me. Breathe with your belly, ready baby?" Hunk walked him through breathing exercises while he heard Pidge cursing in the kitchen.

She came back in. "Ambulance is on its way. I left the door open so they should be able to come right in, but I'll keep an eye out. Tried calling Shiro and Lance a couple times but they aren't answering." Pidge looked around the room before she spotted the nightstand which had blood on the corner of it. 

"I think he fell and hit the nightstand." Pidge said. 

"Yeah, that's what I am guessing too." Hunk said. He had walked Keith through breathing exercises. Keith was still crying but he was having a hard time staying awake. 

Keith was feeling colder and he felt himself start to drift off. "No Keith! Keith, you gotta stay awake for me bud." Hunk said as he continued to put pressure on the wound. "He's drifting off!" Hunk said.

"Is it just me or is he too pale? Like paler than his usual pale?" Pidge asked as she squatted next to Keith and reached for one of his hands. They were shaking and freezing cold. 

Before she could tell Hunk about it they heard commotion from outside the room. She guided the paramedics in to come and take care of Keith. They quickly got him on a stretcher and Pidge volunteered to ride with them. 

Hunk decided he would drive his car and follow them, but first he wanted to clean up some of the blood that was on the floor because he knew if it sat there it would not come out. He also wanted Keith to come home to a clean room. He quickly set to work cleaning the mess up. Hunk tossed the shirt out because most likely it could not be saved. 

After cleaning, he grabbed a cat book bag he saw in the corner of the room and emptied it out. He went into the closet to try to find some comfy clothes for Keith to wear when he came home that weren't bloodied. Hunk tried his best to ignore the huge wall of sex toys that were hung on the wall like some sort of armory and instead found some leggings and a cat sweater for Keith. He also grabbed a pair of his slip-on shoes and some cat socks before he made his way out. 

  
  


Shiro and Lance were ecstatic. After a long month of planning they were finally able to secure their contract with their new client. Shiro and Lance had been so wrapped up in everything that it had taken over their personal lives. 

"When is the last time that we went out together without clients to woo?" Shiro asked as he and Lance made their way back to their office. 

"It's been quite a while hasn't it babe?" Lance replied. 

"How about we push technology aside for today and just go out for dinner and drinks? Just you and me? I want to spend some time with my lovely husband." Shiro said as he pulled Lance into a hug from behind when they reached their office. 

Lance leaned back into him. "I don't think Keith will mind. He has been kind of moody all week." Lance said as he brought his hands to clasp over Shiro's. 

"That settles it then let's spend some husband time together and then we can go home to try to see what's wrong with Keith."

"He could be grumpy from lack of sex. I know I am." Lance replied. 

"Oh really?" Shiro practically growled into his ear. 

"Yeah maybe you should do something to fix that." He huffed as he felt the air jump out of him when Shiro placed his hand on his upper thigh, slowly working his way over to Lance's slowly hardening dick.

"It's been a while since it has been just the two of us hasn't it babe?" Shiro breathed into his ear and he continued to stroke Lance. Lance grunted in affirmation. He could feel Shiro hardening against his back. “How about I blow you on that new couch that we just got for the office. We could break it in?”

Lance laughed as he pulled away from Shiro and slowly led him to the couch. Lance pushed Shiro down to his knees as he sat on the couch. Lance spread his legs on either side of Shiro as he palmed himself through his pants, drinking in the sight of Shiro eyeballing him as he did it. 

“It’s been awhile since you’ve had my dick in your mouth babe.” Lance then unzipped his pants. “Bet you missed the taste of my cock.” Lance gave Shiro a look as he then directed his vision to his lap, giving Shiro the push to lean forward and to fumble with Lance’s pants to get him out. 

Lance’s cock bobbed out of his pants and Shiro almost drooled. “Of course I missed the taste of it.” He grabbed it as he licked up the length. “Our bratty kitten has been hogging it up.” 

Lance chuckled but then gasped as Shiro’s cool prosthetic hand grabbed at Lance’s balls massaging them as he continued to lick up and down Lance’s shaft. Lance was getting harder. Shiro backed off so that he could pull his own hardened cock out of the prison of his suit pants. 

Shiro then wrapped his hand around Lance’s cock as he guided it to his mouth. he paused to take a small lick at the slit, drawing a moan out of Lance. He toyed a bit more with the sensitive cockhead. Making sure to lick the underside of the tip, a place he knew drove Lance crazy. Sure enough this gave off an even louder moan as his tongue tickled the sensitive area. 

Shiro finally guided the rest of Lance’s cock into his mouth, making sure that his tongue grazed over the slightly raised veins along his shaft. Swirling his tongue a bit he hallowed his cheeks before he began sucking on Lance’s cock. Shiro knew he wasn’t as good at this as Keith was but he still knew how to please his husband dammit. It wasn’t his fault that the kitten was the perfect cocksleeve. 

He continued his ministrations, slowly pulling Lance deeper and deeper into his mouth. It had been close to a month and half since any of them had any sexual activity and it was rather embarrassing how quickly Lance was getting close to cumming. 

Shiro must have been thinking the same thing because as he doubled his efforts with his tongue flicking along his shaft he reached down to slowly start to jerk himself. Shiro took himself deeper and moaned around Lance’s cock. Lance moaned too before Shiro pulled off for some air. 

“I’m close.” Shiro panted as he continued to stroke himself. 

“M-me too babe.” Lance breathed out gripping the edge of the couch slightly.

“Fuck my mouth baby.” Shiro said as he traced his mouth along Lance’s shaft, his breath tickling that sensitive spot on his tip again. 

Lance moaned as Shiro took him into his mouth again. Once again using that skilled tongue to wrap itself around his cock. Lance took one of his hands off the edge of the couch and brought it to Shiro’s head. He knew that Shiro could deepthroat but not as far as Keith could. 

Remembering his husband’s limits, he started to guide himself in and out of Shiro’s mouth, using him as a fleshlight. Shiro moaned again which went straight to Lance’s dick. As soon as Lance hit the back of Shiro’s throat slightly he knew that he was going to come soon. Lance began to shallowly fuck his throat as Shiro continued to stroke himself faster. 

Lance’s breathing picked up as he continued to fuck into that wet heat, his husband moaning around him. His release coming quicker than he anticipated as he felt it course through his body. Lance choked out a breath. 

“F-fuck Shiro!” Lance cried out as he grabbed Shiro’s head, pressing himself deeper into his throat so he would be forced to swallow every last drop of his release. Shiro had jerked a bit indicating that he had cum as well onto the wood floor in front of the couch. 

Lance took himself out of Shiro's throat when he was sure he had been milked completely dry. Shiro came off his cock and breathed deeply trying to get his breath again, face still red as he continued to try to breathe in. 

When Shiro finally got his breath back he looked down at the mess on his hand and the floor. “We should probably clean up.” Lance chuckled. 

After cleaning up they made their way out to the car. They had settled on dining in a small trattoria close to the clubs downtown. They were celebrating, they should go out and have fun. They left their cellphones, not checking them, in the glove compartment of the car before they went out to dinner. They didn’t want any distractions deterring them from their celebration. 

Before they went to dinner, they spent time looking in the small little boutiques downtown, window shopping and thinking of all the things that reminded them of themselves or Keith. Lance had found a small little black cat plush that caught his eye and reminded him of Keith. The cat had a grumpy expression on its face and violet eyes. He picked it up and showed it to Shiro who laughed as well. They decided to buy it to try to woo their bratty kitten.

They placed the kitten in the car, deciding once again to ignore their phones and relish in each other’s company. Dinner was nice and quaint and quiet. They had toasted to a bottle of expensive wine and enjoyed brilliant Italian food. They made their way over to a club and let the booming bass wash away their frustrations from the week. The alcohol flowed as they bought drink after drink, they could always call a taxi on the way home. 

The time had flown by and before they knew it, it was a little past midnight. Deciding not to keep their kitten waiting anymore they walked back to their car, feeling the alcohol in their system as they did so. 

Shiro opened the car and reached into the glove compartment. When he finally checked his phone he was not prepared for what he saw. He had well over 70 notifications on his phone. His heart leapt into his throat. “Fuck!”

Lance noticed his husband’s anxiety. “What’s wrong?” Lance asked. 


	2. Chapter 2

Hunk was sitting in an uncomfortable hospital chair in the room that Keith was staying in. Pidge had ridden to the hospital with Keith and had mentioned that they were able to stitch up the gash on his head and give him some pain relief before Hunk arrived. They were currently waiting for him to get a CT scan of his head and for bloodwork to be run.

Keith was still in his little mindset the last time that Hunk and Pidge had seen him. He was terrified of hospitals and doctors, which didn’t help things, but thankfully he did not cry out and scream. It was actually worse though in Hunk's opinion because all he did was dart his eyes around the room terrified and cried quietly while trembling. Hunk thought that this may have had something to do with his upbringing. Hunk knew that Keith did not have a great childhood. From what he could recall Keith spent his childhood in abusive foster homes before living on the streets.

The nurses were enamored by Keith. I mean how could you not be? With his long raven hair and those big purple eyes and his cute behavior he was adorable. Two of the nurses that were attending to patients in the ER had family members that were littles, so they were more than accommodating with taking care of Keith. Pidge had pointed out the blood that was all over him and matting Keith's hair, so the nurses had taken him away to bathe the blood off of him.

God, the blood. It had taken Hunk quite a while to clean it up. He was glad that he could give Keith a clean home to return to. Pidge, on the other hand, had different thoughts.

"You should have left it for Shiro and Lance to clean up. Let them see the severity of Keith's condition and how terrifying it was." Pidge huffed.

"I mean I am mad at them too, but don't you think that is a bit too harsh?" Hunk said as he wrung his fingers out in nervousness. 

"You weren’t there in the ambulance with us. They were trying to keep him awake because of his head injury and all he kept crying for were his daddies. It was heartbreaking." Pidge was pissed. She got up to pace around the room. "Something tells me that something else must have been going on for Keith to be so distraught that he not only regressed but also called us for help."

"What do you mean?" Hunk was getting confused.

"Don't you find it a little strange that Lance and Shiro didn't race home? Did he even call them? Why aren't they answering? Even if they were fighting they are smart enough to answer their damn phones in an emergency." Pidge thought.

"Maybe it had something to do with that client they were talking about the other night. The galra tech guy they were trying to get a deal from. What was his name? It sounded like lotion-" 

"But that is no excuse to ignore your fucking phone!" Pidge yelled. "Keith just looked so fragile. I've never seen him break down like that. He didn't look healthy, Hunk." 

"Yeah he looks a bit thin and really pale." Hunk sighed. “It is strange that Shiro and Lance aren’t paying attention to their phone. It’s six, you would think that they would be out of work by now, right? Or at least able to check their phone?” 

Before Pidge could answer Keith was wheeled back into the room by one of the nurses, Emma, Hunk believed her name was. Keith looked clean, he was dressed in a hospital gown and his hair was in a neat braid off to the side. Keith’s head was bandaged but you could still see the area where he struck his head was deep purple peeking out under the bandage. 

The nurse helped situate Keith on the bed and covered him with two thick blankets. “He has been complaining that he is cold so I thought that he would need the extra blankets.” 

“Thank you, but is there any word on his condition yet?” Pidge asked. 

“Well the doctor will be able to give you more information when we know more. The tech should come in here soon to grab him for a CT scan. I collected his blood when I put his IV line in so they are examining that still. It will probably still be a bit before we know more.” Emma stepped back and put the supports rails up on either side of Keith. “When he gets back from his scan I was ordered to get him on an IV drip. We thought it best to put a pull-up on him since he has a head injury and is regressed. If you need anything please press the call button. The TV remote is also on the same controller.” Emma started to make her way out of the room. 

“Wait!” Pidge stopped her. “Since he hit his head does he have to stay awake in case he has a concussion?” 

“Good question. Actually he can sleep, but he cannot be asleep for periods longer than two hours. I will check in periodically to make note of when he drifts off.” 

“Ok, thank you.” Hunk said. Emma left and Hunk turned his attention to Keith. He pulled his chair closer to the bed. 

“Hey there bud, how are you feeling?” Hunk asked. He noticed that Keith was still shivering despite the blankets and was scrunching his eyes closed in pain despite the medication that was in his system. 

“No f-feel good.” Keith whimpered as he curled in on himself. 

“I’m going to try to reach Shiro and Lance again. I am also going to run out and get some food for us. I was planning on just grabbing McDonalds from across the street. Is your usual ok?” Pidge asked. 

“Yeah that sounds good. Pick up some nuggets for Keith. Maybe we can try to get him to eat something.” Hunk said as he placed his hand on Keith’s shoulder, stroking it slowly. Keith continued to whimper. 

“Ok good. I am going to dim the lights a bit for him. If he does have a concussion the lights would definitely irritate him.”

“Ok see you soon.” Hunk said as he focused his attention back to Keith. 

Pidge slowly made her way out of the hospital. She exited and walked a little further up the walkway past the smoking section before she sighed and pulled out her phone. She had left Shiro and Lance several text messages, voicemails, and even emails to their private and work accounts. Frustrated, she tried calling their building. The receptionist had said that the two of them had already left for the day. Pidge was livid. 

She gripped her phone tight as she tried calling Shiro again. The phone continued to ring before she was greeted with Shiro’s voicemail. She breathed deeply before she called Lance only to have the same luck. “Lance. I don’t know what the fuck you and Shiro are doing, but you need to pay attention to your fucking phone. Keith is in the hospital with a head wound and who knows what else. He was bleeding out on your fucking floor while he was also regressed. I have been trying to get ahold of you for three fucking hours. When I get ahold of you both it will be you two in the damn hospital.” Pidge threatened before she hung up violently. 

  


Hunk wasn’t able to get through to Keith too much in the short time before he was taken back for his CT scan. It was a good twenty minutes before Keith was wheeled back into the room, he was crying in his wheelchair, hugging himself trying to give himself comfort. 

“Someone may need some love.” The tech said as she stopped the wheelchair. Hunk agreed. 

“Yeah, I was planning on holding him for a bit. Hey buddy, do you want Uncle Hunk to hold you?” He asked as he delicately brushed the tears away from the right side of Keith’s face, hesitant to touch his injured side. 

Keith whined a bit before he nodded and made grabbing motions towards Hunk. “I’ll take that as a yes.” The tech laughed. 

Hunk bent down and lifted Keith into his arms. He made his way back to the bed and sat down against the head of the bed. “Here I can lift the top for you a bit so you can sit up with him some.” The tech said as she made the adjustments. 

“Thank you, I think he is probably going to drift off soon.” Hunk saw that Keith was fighting to stay awake as he grabbed onto Hunk as tight as he could. Hunk situated himself on the bed and covered Keith with the blankets Emma had given them. 

“The nurse will be back in a bit if you need anything. I hope he feels better!” The tech said as she wheeled the chair away, leaving them in the dimmed room. 

Keith continued to whimper as Hunk held him. He began stroking his back. “Don’t worry Keith, everything will be ok. We are still trying to reach your daddies.” Hunk said. 

Keith then whimpered before he spoke into Hunk’s shoulder, “Daddies no l-love Keef n-no more.” He continued to quietly cry. 

“Oh no baby, they do!” Hunk assured before he held him a bit tighter. 

“N-no, no love Keef. K-keef sad and ‘lone.” Keith hiccuped out. 

“No Keith, they do love you a lot. I know they have been busy lately, but I am certain they still love you.” Hunk assured, but it fell on deaf ears as Keith was already asleep. 

Hunk sighed before he looked at his phone. He was fuming. There were still no notifications from Lance or Shiro. Where the hell were they?

  
  


Shiro and Lance were freaking out as they combed through the various notifications on their phones. “You try and call Pidge and I am going to call an Uber for us so we can get home.” Shiro said.

“Ok, I can do that.” Lance clicked on Pidge’s contact and tried calling her. He didn’t have much luck on the first try so he hung up and tried calling again. 

“FINALLY! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO?!” Pidge yelled as she picked up her phone. 

“Pidge! Sorry! We weren’t looking at our phones-” Lance started before Pidge cut him off. 

“For nine fucking hours?!” Pidge yelled. 

“Pidge we messed up I’m sorry! What’s wrong is Keith Ok-” Lance was cut off again.

“You can find out when you come home. You waited nine fucking hours before caring, you can wait a little more. I’ll be waiting in your apartment.” Pidge bit out before she hung up the phone. 

Lance tried desperately calling her back a couple times before Pidge finally had enough and turned off her phone. He tried calling Hunk but his phone was turned off as well. 

“What’s wrong?” Shiro asked, concerned. 

“Pidge says that she will tell us when we get to our place. Dios Shiro, we messed up, we messed up and our kitten is hurt and-” Lance drifted on before Shiro cut him off. 

“Lance, try and calm down a bit. We will have answers soon. Try going through your voicemail to see what is wrong, I am going to try calling the Uber to get him here faster.” Shiro said. Lance knew that he was worried too, but was trying his best to be strong and hide it. 

Lance sat in the passenger seat, still buzzed from drinking, tears slowly falling as he went through the nine voicemails that he had on his phone. The first eight were all short desperate messages trying to get Lance to call Pidge. 

Lance clicked on the last one and heard Pidge growl, _“Lance. I don’t know what the fuck you and Shiro are doing, but you need to pay attention to your fucking phone. Keith is in the hospital with a head wound and who knows what else. He was bleeding out on your fucking floor while he was also regressed. I have been trying to get ahold of you for three fucking hours. When I get ahold of you both it will be you two in the damn hospital.”_ Lance’s stomach dropped. His breath caught as the tears continued to drip. 

He shot out of the car and yelled towards Shiro, “S-Shiro! He’s hurt! He’s in the hospital! He hit his head! H-he’s fucking hurt!” Lance yelled as he broke down crying. Shiro was pale as he held onto him holding him trying to pretend that he also was not trembling in fear at the news. 

The Uber came and they locked up their car and climbed in. Lance clutched onto the black cat that they had bought Keith while Shiro gave him shaky reassurances. “Sh-hiro he said h-he was sick. And we left him!” Lance cried. 

Lance could feel Shiro trembling as well, trying to hold back his worry and tears in his alcohol buzzed mind. “It’s going to be ok baby.” Shiro tried to reassure as the guilt and worry gnawed at his stomach. 

They arrived at their apartment and all but threw the door open. “Keith!” Shiro yelled as he burst through the door, Lance following close behind. 

They saw Pidge sitting on their living room couch. “It’s about time you get-”

“Where is Keith?!” Lance cut her off. Shiro walked past them and looked into Keith’s room to find it empty. 

“Keith isn’t here.” Pidge said. 

Lance was getting agitated. “Where is he Pidge?!” Lance yelled. He was tired of Pidge not giving him answers. Shiro walked back into the room, eyes wide. 

“Keith is sleeping in our guest room. He was discharged from the hospital at 11.” Pidge said. “We have some talking to do before you are allowed to see him.”

“What do you mean allowed? He’s our boyfriend!” Shiro growled. 

Lance was getting tired of this and walked towards the door, determined to go to Pidge’s apartment and find out for himself. 

“I wouldn’t go down there if I were you. Hunk is even more pissed than I am and Keith is in no state to see you right now.” Pidge stopped Lance. “Sit down and I will tell you everything and then you will tell me why you found it fucking necessary to neglect your boyfriend.” 

“We didn’t-” Lance was interrupted. 

“Yes, yes you did. Keith even told us.” Pidge said. 

“Why would-” Shiro started before he was cut off by Pidge as well. 

“Sit down and shut up and I will tell you what is wrong.” 

Shiro and Lance sat down next to each other on the couch. Lance grabbed onto Shiro’s flesh hand. “Now tell us, please” Lance begged. 

Pidge took in a deep breath. “Well to start off Keith is not dying.” Lance and Shiro gave out a sigh of relief. “Hunk and I were getting ready to head out to see a movie when Hunk got a phone call from Keith around three this afternoon. Keith was crying and was regressed. Hunk managed to get him to say that he was hurt. When we got here Keith was crying, shaking, and laying in a puddle of blood.” Shiro and Lance took in a deep breath. 

“What-” Shiro started before Pidge interrupted him. 

“He fell and hit his head on the damn nightstand.” Pidge growled. “No interrupting me or I will stop.” Pidge threatened as she saw Lance open his mouth to ask another question. Shiro and Lance shut up. “We called 911 and were able to get him in an ambulance. I rode with him and the entire fucking way he was asking for you two as he was fighting consciousness.” That stabbed Shiro and Lance. Lance started tearing up again. Guilt was washing over the both of them. 

“We got to the hospital and they stitched him up, gave him pain meds, and bathed the blood off of him. Hunk cleaned up all the blood before he came to the hospital. He got a CT scan and blood work.” Pidge pushed the hair out of her eyes. “The doctor said that he has a concussion from striking his head. He will be a fall risk and have a lot of dizziness, head pain, nausea, and light and sound sensitivity while he heals. The CT showed that there wasn’t a bleed in his brain. The concussion will take a couple weeks to heal and we will be able to see if there were any complications after the concussion subsides.” 

Pidge sat back on the couch and sighed. “The doctor also said that Keith was dehydrated and he is ten pounds underweight. His blood work showed that he was anemic from the bleeding and from something else. His iron levels and saturation along with his hemoglobin were dangerously low. It pointed to another problem other than blood loss. Keith wasn’t able to give us much information since he was out of it from his head injury and still regressed. It would have been great for the doctor to talk to you two about Keith.” Pidge paused as she glared at them. “The doctor was able to piece together his weight loss with a possible stomach issue. Keith tested positive for H. pylori which is a bacterial infection in your stomach. It’s not threatening but it could cause a dramatic decrease in appetite and nausea. It also gives some explanation for the iron deficiency. The bacteria feeds off of the iron in the cells, though the doctor noted that Keith has had some issues with low iron in the past. The low iron could also be attributed to Keith having a poor diet. He was given a blood transfusion and needs to go for iron infusions after he follows up with his primary doctor. The H. pylori is an easy fix but the iron deficiency and the concussion will take awhile.” 

Pidge took in a deep breath. “Didn’t you notice anything strange about him? The doctor mentioned that the weight loss should’ve been noticeable, hell even Hunk noticed it the last time we saw him. He also would have been cold and shaking from the anemia.”

Lance started crying and Shiro wasn’t far behind. “H-he said he was sick a-and I left him alone!” Lance said as he sobbed. 

Shiro started crying too. “Baby we are both to blame. I noticed he was lighter when I picked him up, and-and I didnt say anything.” They held onto each other as they continued to cry. 

“You should feel guilty.” Pidge probed. The crying wasn’t bothering her. “He told us that you don’t love him anymore. He was still regressed when we took him home. He is sleeping now. When he is ready he will come up and talk to you.” Pidge got up and approached the door. “In the meantime sober up and think of how you can apologize— if you can— for this.” 

Pidge left, slamming the door behind her and Shiro and Lance held each other and cried. 

Shiro and Lance stayed up the rest of the night. Sobering up quickly as they cried and discussed what they had done and how they could even make it up to Keith. They had checked their phones constantly and received no communication from anyone. Shiro was obsessively going through all the messages he neglected, trying to piece everything together. 

It wasn’t until eleven in the morning that the door opened and revealed Keith. “Keith-” Lance and Shiro jumped up ready to go to him when Keith cut them off as he made his way into the living room. 

"NO! DON'T GIVE ME EXCUSES!" Keith yelled. "I DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOUR FAKE APOLOGIES. YOU WERE AWFUL TO ME!” All the anger and frustration from the past couple of days building up. 

“Keith-” They tried again before they were cut off.

“You spent so much time on this project that you completely FORGOT about me! You stay out late without looking at your phone and when you do look at your phone, I get short aggressive texts. Like how fucking dare I interrupt your time?!" Tears were starting to run down Keith's face, his face red, head pounding, but he needed to get this out, so he kept on. "You fucking went to a club without me! I was up until three in the morning terrified for you both and you come home and tell me that you went without me because I wouldn’t fit in! Is that it?! Do you no longer want me because I don’t fit into your lifestyle?! That I'm the tacky piece of furniture in your life?!" Keith choked in a breath. 

"Keith-!" Both Shiro and Lance tried to cut in, but Keith cut them off again.

"NO! YOU ARE GOING TO LET ME FINISH!" Keith breathed in, swiped at his tears, and continued. "Then, you come home and argue and yell at each other, which terrifies me and you know it! You stopped taking me to bed with you! Do you know how much it hurts that you just left me on my own?! I was sick! I told you I was sick! Neither of you cared enough about me because of your fucking proposal! I could have bled out on the floor if I didn’t call for Hunk and you would have found out hours later!! You were spending a night out and I was sick in a hospital bed! Speaking of beds, I was shivering in bed sick and you fucking kicked me out because I was a distraction for you? Are you fucking kidding me?!"

Keith's breaths were getting a bit more desperate as his lungs and throat burned a bit from screaming. The pain in his head was getting worse. His vision was getting a little blurry, he felt a knot in his throat as he fought back his nausea. "I have spent the past couple of days crying thinking that I am not enough for you or that you don’t want me anymore because that is what your actions are telling me!" Keith was bordering on hysterical as his breaths were coming in. The tears continued to leak down his face. "Everyone in my life fucking leaves! People d-don’t want me and t-they throw me out. I’ve been told that I’m worthless and h-hard to love. Now I am not even sure y-you do anymore! DO YOU LOVE ME?!" Keith shrieked, his voice giving out with how much emotion he put into it. 

Lance and Shiro's eyes widened as they continued to stare in shock. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special shoutout to keithkoganesart for creating a fanart of that dramatic scene at the end of the previous chapter. You can check it out plus their other great work on their instagram [ here. ](https://www.instagram.com/p/CD-Ta-BgA_C/?igshid=jdyusaalbmx2)

Keith's scream echoed off the walls of the penthouse. The only sound that could be heard for the next ten seconds was the sound of Keith trying to bring air into his lungs as he hyperventilated. Shiro and Lance were shocked. Had they really been that awful to him? 

Shiro recovered first as he quickly tried to assure Keith. "Of course, we love you!" He yelled. All he wanted was to take Keith into his arms and hug him and reassure him until he believed it himself, but Shiro could read Keith's body language. Keith was in the middle of a panic attack right now. He knew better than to try to touch him. He needed to take control of the situation.

"Keith, baby-" Shiro started before Keith cut him off.

"Don't!" Was all that Keith could get out as he tried to breathe. There were black dots that were starting to gather in his vision. He felt like he couldn’t get a breath in. His head was pounding, and he felt like the floor beneath him was moving. He couldn’t hold himself up anymore and he dropped to his knees, bracing himself against the couch for support to hold him up.

"Keith!" Shiro yelled as he saw him fall. Shiro got down on his knees as well so that he could be at a comfortable non-threatening level for Keith. "Keith, you need to breathe with me. I know you are upset but we need to get your breathing down." Keith looked at him with terrified eyes as he fought to breathe. "I won't touch you I promise ok?"

Lance was still frozen from Keith's yelling and raw emotions.

"Can you breathe with me ok?" Shiro asked again. "Look at me Keith can you follow me? Breathe in for 3, ok?" Shiro tried to walk Keith through some breathing, which eventually he responded to. Keith hadn't been this panicked in front of them in a while. Tears still rolled down his face as his hyperventilating eased. He was still breathing heavy in between crying, but his breathing was a lot more stable.

"Keith, I need you to listen to me." Keith tried to talk but Shiro interrupted him. "No hold on. Please try to keep breathing. Keith, baby, please. Of course, we love you. We have been awful to you the past month without us realizing it. There is no justification for how we treated you but fuck Keith. Of course, we love you. I-" Before Shiro could say anything more he saw Keith lurch forward as if he was going to be sick. Shiro quickly picked him up, ignoring Keith's reluctance to touch, and ran him into the tiny half bath attached to the living room.

Keith fought Shiro off him as he was placed in front of the toilet and hurled. He hadn't eaten much but the nausea was too much for him to bear. Lance finally came to and crowded himself into the bathroom to sit next to Keith. He tried to reach for Keith's hair to hold it, but Keith swatted him away in between dry heaving.

"Keith, I am so sorry-" Lance said as he started crying. Keith never stopped crying from when he yelled and was trying his best to balance himself near the toilet as he fought his stomach down.

"N-no! Don't t-touch me!" he yelled as Lance reached to try to put a hand on his back. Shiro ran to get a glass of water and a wet towel.

"Keith, please, I messed up so bad I-" Lance tried.

"Yes! Y-yes you did!" Keith yelled as he leaned back against the wall to the side of the toilet.

"Keith I-I love you so much I-" Lance tried again, fighting the urge to reach out.

Keith couldn't deal with this right now. It was a mistake coming to see them this early. His head was still pounding, and he couldn't think clearly. He wasn't ready to just forgive them quickly. They had caused him a lot of pain and he was not ready to listen.

Keith fought with himself to stand up and Lance reached out to try to stabilize him, which Keith swatted off. He continued to make his way into the living room to the front door before he turned to Lance and Shiro. They looked at him with wide eyes as he struggled to keep himself standing. "I-I can't do this right now. No!" Keith cut them off before they could interject. "I-I am not ready to talk to you yet. You r-really hurt me, and I don't know if I can forgive you just yet. I-I need some time away. I'm gonna stay with Hunk and Pidge u-until I can bare to deal with this. I. I just don't feel the love." Keith began to cry harder if it was possible. "I see it in your e-eyes w-when you look at each o-other. But not me. Y-you don't look at me the s-same." Keith cried. "Goodbye." He said, closing the door leaving Lance and Shiro in shock.

Shiro rushed to the door to open it and chase after Keith while Lance sunk into the couch and started to cry in earnest. How had they been so oblivious to their behavior?

Shiro raced out the door to catch up to Keith who wasn't that far.

"Keith!" he yelled.

"N-no! Don't follow m-" Keith cried out.

"Keith, I know you are upset and don't want to talk to me. I get that." Keith glared at him as he approached the elevator, violently pressing the button. "Please I just want to make sure you make it to their apartment safe-"

"Oh! N-now you care?!" Keith yelled, regretting it as his head throbbed and the dots came back.

"I always cared, even if I didn't do a good job of showing it. Keith, please, I do care."

Keith walked into the elevator and aggressively pressed the 'close door' button. "Fuck off Shiro." Keith said as the doors closed on him.

Shiro could hear Keith start to cry harder after the doors closed.

They really fucked up.

  
  


By the time Keith had made it to Pidge and Hunk's apartment he was a blubbering mess that was struggling to keep himself upright. The stress and grief were getting to be a bit too much for him. He was starting to panic again. Pidge had gone out to see her brother and Hunk had to go to the restaurant. Even in this new apartment, he was alone.

The world was getting too big for him and he was starting to feel like he was exposed. His walls were coming down and he needed security. He walked into the guest bedroom and tried to find a safe spot for him to calm down. The bed was too low to the ground for him to go under. He looked around until he spotted the closet. It was filled with random coats, but the bottom was relatively clear. He grabbed the comforter off the bed and snuck into the refuge of the closet.

Keith had picked up the habit of hiding early in his foster homes, which were less than pleasant for a multitude of different reasons. You were safe if you hid-- If they didn’t find you that is. This was his nest. No one could hurt him here. His head was killing him, his breathing and crying weren’t helping, but the darkness of the closet was. He felt like his mind was racing, between emotions, and pain, and the image of Shiro and Lance staring at him in shock as he yelled. Keith continued to cry, in anger, pain and frustration, eventually crying himself to sleep in the shelter of his closet.

  
  


Shiro and Lance sat in silence for an hour or two in their living room. Going over what they had done in their heads, both caught up in guilt. There was nothing for them to say to each other. They were both guilty there was no doubt about it.

Shiro tried to talk to Lance about what had happened, but Lance shrugged him off and went to take a shower. Neither had slept the previous night, worried about Keith, and the emotional and physical toll was starting to set on them. Lance took a long shower, letting the water run over him.

As Shiro was in the shower Lance received a call from Pidge. He was hesitant to answer because he didn’t think he could deal with another person beating him down right now, but ultimately decided to answer.

"Pidge-"

"Have you seen Keith?!" Pidge yelled as she checked her apartment frantically.

Lance' s heart sped up a little, but he remembered that Shiro had confirmed that Keith went into the apartment. Although Keith had shrugged Shiro off he followed him down the stairs to make sure that Keith got in. Knowing Keith, he knew exactly where he would be, "check the closets." Lance said, heart aching.

He heard Pidge move from room to room opening doors before she opened a door and Lance heard her sigh in relief. He heard the door close. "He's here." Pidge confirmed.

"Keith hides in closets when he is terrified and having a bit of an emotional overload." Lance guessed that Keith would be at that level today, but he was still upset. He knew that Keith used to hide in closets to avoid beatings when he was younger, and the habit only popped up when he was truly stressed. His heart hurt more if it was possible.

Pidge sighed before she asked Lance, "So, what should we do?"

"You need to wait for him to come out when he is ready. If you- if you pull him out too early, he may have a PTSD episode. Also I wouldn’t touch him at all until he touches you for the next week while he calms down, even if he’s little. If he is hiding in closets then touch is definitely a no go. His um, he needs his medication that he is supposed to take daily and his emergency panic pills."

Pidge sighed, "Ok. I can send Hunk over when he gets out of work at 11." The line was silent for a bit. "Lance, I-I know that you and Shiro love him. But this may take some time. It's a lot to unpack."

Lance felt himself tear up again. "I-I know. Please just take care of him for right now. We will make things right, I promise. H-he's o-our kitten." Lance cried out before he hung up the phone, not able to talk to her anymore.

Lance lay there crying as Shiro came back into the room, looking worse for wear himself as well. They still weren’t ready to talk about it either. Shiro got into bed and faced away from Lance. Neither of them deserved comfort right now.

  
  


Hunk got to the penthouse around 11:30 to pick up Keith's belongings. Shiro answered the door, looking completely broken. Hunk was kind of at a loss of what to say since he too was mad at Shiro and Lance, but he could see how much remorse they had for what they did. 

"I'm, ugh here for Keith's stuff." Hunk said as Shiro let him in. 

"Lance has it in Keith's room." Shiro said as he led Hunk back there. 

When they walked into the room they found Lance curled up on the bed hugging one of Keith's pillows. "Hey there Lance. Is this ugh, are these all for Keith?" He pointed down to the four bags at the foot of the bed. 

Lance sat up and sighed. "Yeah. The purple bag has all his day clothes. I tried to pick some of his favorite comfy outfits. He usually just wears underwear and one of our shirts to bed. The zebra bag has his laptop, tablet, and switch with all their chargers and his phone charger. The cat bag has his wallet, medication, drawing supplies and some of his favorite stuffed animals. The um, the zebra bag has some of his little things in case he regresses again." Lance was tearing up after going over the bags. "Do you- do you think he hates us?" Lance cried asking Hunk. 

"No, no, no I don't think he hates you. It's Keith, he doesn't hate anyone except for that one Mcdonalds mascot for some reason." Hunk sighed. "He's just hurt and scared and confused right now. Just give him some time." Hunk assured. 

He made a move to grab the bags but Shiro stopped him. 

"I wrote down tips for taking care of him. I have what he likes and doesn't like and things that scare him. I have what to do if he's scared or freaking out or sad. I have a schedule for his medicines too. He keeps a lot in, but he wants to get it out. Please, please just make sure he isn't by himself for too long." Shiro said, tears in his eyes. It was after he said it he realized how his previous actions contradicted his request, and he looked away. 

Hunk just nodded and grabbed the bags.

  
  


It took two additional hours of coaxing to get Keith out of the closet. When Keith left the closet he was damn near catatonic. It seemed that he had just shut down and shut everything out. His body was going through the motions, but his mind wasn’t really all there. 

They were able to get him to eat half a turkey sandwich and some water before they made him take his medication. His concussion and anemia were still affecting his balance so Hunk looked after him as he showered. When they put Keith back in the guest room they had to convince him to sleep in the bed and not the closet. 

Pidge had gone over the notes that Shiro included and it had mentioned that if he was zoning out it was best to give him things in the room that would ground him. Pidge placed an air freshener in the room and also turned on the TV. She made sure to avoid the news channel as Shiro had suggested. The news elevated Keith’s anxiety. Pidge sat with Keith in the room until she heard him start to softly snore. 

This was going to be difficult for everyone. 

  
  


Keith spent the rest of the weekend in a daze. While he no longer hid in the closet, he spent a lot of the time asleep or staring out into space a bit. He would look at the TV but to Pidge it looked like he was looking at something past the TV. 

Shiro and Lance had been blowing up everyone’s phone. While Pidge sat with Keith she could tell that his phone was constantly wracking up messages as he ignored it. Hunk and Pidge were also receiving a ton of messages as well from Shiro and Lance. They were terrified and wanted to know every detail of how Keith was doing and would not take Pidge’s silence for an answer. 

Pidge knew that Hunk had a bit of a soft spot and was answering them, giving updates on Keith. Hunk had pulled Pidge aside and told her, “Shiro and Lance are really worried about his depressive catatonic state.”

“They should be, they fucking caused it.” Pidge growled. 

“Pidge that is not what I meant.” Hunk sighed. “They are worried about him being trapped in his head for too long. They think his depression could turn into something serious. I mean, don’t you find it a little strange that he hasn’t cried since he came here? They recommended trying to stimulate him a bit more to get him out of his own head.” 

Pidge agreed that it sounded like a good plan. Pidge would have to start going back to help her brother with his research this week and she honestly was terrified to leave Keith alone. 

“I’ll try to get him to play his switch today. I’ll get him that new Kitty Krasher game that just got released two days ago. I doubt, with all this, that buying it was on his mind.” Pidge walked into Keith’s room and grabbed the switch from his bag and made quick work of downloading the new game. 

“Keith,” Hunk called. Keith didn’t really register him talking. “Keith.” Hunk said a bit more forcefully. Though his reaction was a bit delayed he turned back to Hunk, looking at him questioningly. “Guess what Pidge got you?” Hunk asked. 

Keith shrugged before slowly looking at Pidge. Pidge gave Keith the switch. “I got you Kitty Krashers 4!” Pidge tried to sound enthusiastic. 

They saw Keith’s face light up a bit before he hesitantly reached out to grab the switch. He entered the game and his face lit up a bit more. It only took a couple of minutes for his attention to come back and for him to be engrossed in the game. 

Pidge laughed, but was glad that he would be occupied for the next couple of days. 

  
  


It took two more days for Keith to fully come out of his near catatonic state. Pidge had gone off to research with her brother for a couple hours and promised to be back before 2. Hunk had left to tend to his restaurant and get things ready for their dinner service. Keith took a break from playing his switch to stretch out a bit on the bed. 

He still wasn’t feeling too great between his anemia and the concussion. He was still unsteady on his feet and he was freezing. Keith knew that he needed to follow up with his primary doctor but Keith didn’t think that it would be best at the time. Shiro and Lance still paid for all of his expenses and he felt weird generating more doctor bills for them to pay while they were going through a separation or break or whatever this was. 

Keith sighed, fighting past the dull headache that was generating. He burrowed a little deeper into the heavy blankets. 

He knew he was going to have to start going over and process what happened eventually. He stared at the ceiling as he tried to unpack some of the events that led up to this. He cataloged what Lance and Shiro had said and done and his chest hurt a bit. The major thing that he kept trying to figure out was why had they treated him this way? It didn’t make too much sense. Their relationship up to this point was full of care. He never questioned their love. Why has it been so different in the past month? What had changed?

While keeping his eyes closed and breathing carefully an ominous voice he had not heard since he was eleven surfaced. 

_This is what you deserve you worthless bastard._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Flashback in this chapter containing non sexual child abuse.

Keith froze. No. There was no way that voice was possible. He hadn't seen him in years, not since the sentencing. He knew that he was put away.

Keith began to tremble, but he violently shook his head, trying to get himself together. There was no way he was here. It's ok. He can't be here. Keith had been taking his medicine. He should be fine. It was just his imagination.

Keith tried picking up his switch again to keep playing his game, but he found his attention wavering. His mind kept going back to those words, and if by magic they appeared again.

_This is what you deserve you worthless bastard._

It echoed in his head as he repeated it to himself. Why was he thinking of this now of all times? Well, he had been thinking about how his relationship had changed in the most recent month.

Keith put his switch down as he laid up staring at the ceiling, wracking his head for possible explanations for everything that was happening.

Keith knew that Shiro and Lance had an important client that they had spent the past month trying to woo. The addition of this new client would boost their worth by a third and they couldn't afford for this client to decide to take his business elsewhere. This led to Shiro and Lance kissing ass a bit and taking the new client out to the bars, which honestly Keith had a little problem with. Why hadn't they invited him to go? Oh, that's right, because they said he wouldn't fit in. They weren’t embarrassed and ashamed of him, were they?

_You aren't worth their time. You are an embarrassment._ The voice in the back of his head, which he was 20% sure wasn't his, supplied.

Even if he wasn't worth it, why did they ignore him? Why did they not tell him that they were going to be out all night? They could have called but they chose to make him worry.

_You should be worried, they don't want you._ The voice chimed in. Keith cringed, his breath starting to pick up.

No, that wasn't true. They loved him, right? They always said it and, before, they had always treated him right. They took care of him and held him and listened to him. Why would that change all of a sudd-

_They realized what you are. Worthless. Unlovable. Needy._ The voice rang through.

No, they told him that he wasn't. They spent so much time reassuring him and telling him that his past foster parents and all those who had hurt him were wrong. That _he_ was wrong.

Keith could feel his breathing start to pick up as he tried to calm himself down. He practiced the breathing exercise that Shiro would always walk him through. When he was certain his breathing was ok and the voices were gone something else spoke to him, his stomach. He decided that he should probably get some food in his system and he knew that he had to take the medication for his stomach too.

He slowly got up, careful not to jar his still hurting head and agitate his lightheadedness caused by his anemia. When he was certain of his steps, he made his way over to the kitchen, tracing his hand along the wall for added support. His stomach growled again, and he realized that this was the first time in a long time that he actually felt hungry. He guessed that this meant that he was in fact getting better. 

He wandered into the kitchen and grabbed the bread and read the label. He didn't see any information about nuts on there, so he figured that it was safe to eat. He grabbed a plate and put two slices on it before deciding to place a third slice down. He was damn hungry, and one and a half sandwiches should do it.

He felt a prickling sensation on his neck. Like his body was preparing him for something. His heart jumped for a second. He usually got this feeling when he was going to have a PTSD episode along with some fogginess. The problem was that the anemia and the concussion made him constantly foggy. He stared at the bread for a couple minutes, trying to sort out his head a bit, preparing for the worst, but nothing happened.

He shrugged the feeling off and opened the fridge and rooted around until he saw a package of sliced ham and a package of cheese. Keith then grabbed the mayo and made quick work of making his sandwiches. Putting everything back he reached for a glass so that he could grab some water before he headed over to the dining table. Keith turned off the tap and was not prepared for what was before him when he turned around.

**_Miss me boy?_ **

Keith dropped the sandwich plate and glass of water, letting it shatter on the ground. Keith was completely oblivious to it. The flashback had gotten him.

**_Keith was trembling as he looked around the room. He was back in that dated kitchen in the house that haunted him. He could hear remnants of a football game playing loudly in the background. His eyes were locked on the bloodshot eyes of the man that plagued his nightmares, his fourth foster father, Hank Jennings._ **

**_Before he could react, Hank grabbed him by his collar and hoisted him up. "Who the fuck said that you can eat boy?" Hank asked, his voice calm but unnerving._ **

**_Keith struggled to put words together, but Hank didn’t give him time to form an answer. He struck him across the face and let Keith fall into the laminated cabinet, striking his head on the door._ **

**_"You take all my food. What am I supposed to eat, huh? You just continue to take from me, and I get nothing in return!" Hank grumbled as he aimed a kick at Keith._ **

_**"Fucking bitch of a wife takes that damn check and gambles it away! But what do I fucking get? Huh?!" Hank asked as he kicked him again.** _

**_Keith knew that the best thing that he could do was to keep quiet. Quiet made things better. Quiet didn't hurt as much. When he had first gotten there as a ten-year-old, he was an angry and feisty child. His previous three foster homes had given him back because they said he was too violent and too much to handle. His social worker knew that Hank and his wife had worked with problem children before and thought that they were the perfect fit for Keith. They couldn't have been more wrong._ **

**_When Keith didn't say anything, Hank got even more angry. "Fucking say something!" Hank yelled as he hoisted him up by the arm again._ **

**_"I-I'm Sorry-y!" Keith cried out._ **

**_"Sorry for what, breaking my fucking dishes? Wasting my fucking food?!" He yelled. Keith kept quiet as he continued to cry. "I'll fucking teach you." Hank said as he pulled Keith forward. Keith stumbled and caught himself but cried out. Hank had made him step barefoot into the broken glass and remains of a sandwich on the floor. Pain flared in Keith's feet as he was pulled more into the broken glass. With both feet now affected he kept whimpering, knowing better than to cry out loud._ **

**_"Fucking stay there." Hank said as he walked to the fridge and grabbed a beer before cracking it open and returning to his game. Keith continued to stand there, pain spreading up his shins as he stood. He tried to rearrange himself but moving made it hurt worse, so he stood there._ **

**_Why was this happening to him? Why were they so mean to him? Why was he sent here? He knew he was bad, the other parents said so, but they never treated him this bad._ **

**_Eventually Keith's legs started to shake from the pain, threatening to give out. "No!" Keith breathed, willing his body to just stay still. Keith moved to hold onto the counter because he needed something to stable him or he would be in even more trouble. He reached out to grab the counter, but his hand came into contact with an empty beer can on the counter. It fell off the counter and Keith cried out as he tried to grab it, jostling his wounds, but it was too late. The beer can hit the ground._ **

**_Keith's stomach plummeted as he heard Hank growl from the family room. Soon he came storming in and grabbed hold of Keith by the collar again. "You can't even fucking stand still! What the fuck can you do. You are fucking useless!" Hank yelled as he jostled him._ **

**_Keith cried out in pain at the shifting of his feet. "Please sir, p-please spare me."_ **

**_Hank stared at him before he started laughing. "That, that is fucking rich. I don't think you fucking understand what you are." Hank said with a smile._ **

**_Keith paled. Hank then grabbed him by the arm and dragged him off of the glass. Keith cried out as he was dragged on his damaged feet through the house leaving bloody footprints behind. Keith was having trouble breathing since the pain in his feet was too great. He had multiple cuts and he could still feel chunks of glass buried inside. He couldn’t help but cry out loud this time, already knowing that there was nothing saving him from Hank._ **

**_Hank dragged him into the dated blue bathroom and shoved him against the sink. Keith started to panic even more, why was he in the bathroom. What was he going to make him do? Keith tried to put some of his weight on the sink in front of him, leaning over it trying to get some of his weight off his feet._ **

**_"Look in the mirror." Hank ordered. Keith was still having trouble standing so he didn’t hear him. "I said look in the fucking mirror!" Hank yelled as he grabbed Keith by his hair and forced him to look straight into the mirror._ **

**_Keith could see the fear in his eyes. He could see the bruises and welt that he had gotten earlier from striking the cabinet with his head. He could see that his skin was stretched over his face a little too taut, giving away that he had lost a lot of weight. He could see the dark circles under his sunken eyes._ **

**_His eyes flickered up to Hank's in the mirror, still unsure what was going on._ **

**_"Fucking look at yourself you ugly monster." Hank growled and shook him a bit._ **

**_Keith locked eyes with himself._ **

**_"I want you to fucking repeat after me and look at yourself in the fucking mirror. You understand?" Hank asked as he gripped Keith's hair harder._ **

**_"Y-yes s-sir." Keith cried out, knowing better than to look at anything other than himself in the mirror._ **

**_"I am worthless." Hank growled._ **

**_Keith swallowed. "I a-am worthless."_ **

**_"No one will ever love me."_ **

**_"No-o one will e-ever love me." Keith repeated._ **

**_"I deserve to be punished." Hank growled again._ **

**_"I-I deserve t-to be p-punished." Keith cried out. Looking straight into his eyes he started to believe it. The pain in his scalp and feet were dulled as he looked into his own eyes._ **

**_"Now fucking repeat it all till I tell you to stop." Keith shivered. He knew that if he got something wrong he would be punished._ **

**_He looked into the mirror and repeated those lines over and over until his soul knew that they were true._ **

**_Hank must've gotten bored because he then jerked Keith to the side and threw him against the ugly blue tub._ **

**_"Don't you fucking forget it. I will ask you to repeat it daily so you fucking know your place. Clean yourself then clean the house. It better be done by the time the game is over." Hank ordered as he left Keith in the bathroom._ **

But Keith's mind never left the bathroom. He was stuck there mentally not aware of what he was doing in the present. Which is why Pidge found him huddled in the guest bathroom.

Pidge had come home a bit early from researching to a quiet house. "Keith?" She called out making her way to the kitchen. That was when she saw the blood on the floor and her heart skipped a beat. She saw a broken plate and glass and water and a sandwich surrounded by blood on the floor. Keith must've stepped in it because she saw his bloody footprints lead down the hallway. "Keith?!" She cried out getting more worried.

The footprints led her to the bathroom where she was not prepared to see what she saw. Keith was huddled against the wall, a bit of blood by his feet. She could see him trembling and digging his fingernails into his head. She saw fingernail marks on his arms too, guessing they were from a sloppy attempt to try to comfort himself.

Pidge knew that she was not going to get through to him. He was having a PTSD episode, and a serious one at that. Pidge quickly thought who she could get into contact with. She had no experience dealing with this and Keith was definitely bigger than her. She thought back to the paperwork that Shiro provided.

She gave one last look at Keith before determining that he was to far gone to notice her disappearance. She ran into her room and grabbed the paperwork and made her way to the hallway outside the bathroom.

She flipped through the pages before she saw emergency contacts for Keith's therapist. She didn’t really want to get Shiro and Lance involved because she didn’t know what caused the attack and she didn’t know if having them there would be smart.

She dialed the number before she heard a cheery voice answer, "Paladins of Care Rehabilitation Center this is Romelle speaking."

"Hi! I have an emergency and Shiro gave me this number to call if something was wrong with Keith and-" Pidge answered a mile a minute.

"Hold on second, slow down please. Who are you calling in regards to?" Romelle asked.

"Keith Kogane." Pidge answered.

"Ok just checking to make sure. What is wrong with Keith at the moment?"

"He's having a really bad flashback and he hurt himself and I don't know what to do to get him out of it." Pidge was starting to shake a bit now.

"You said that he had injured himself?" Romelle asked. Pidge could here her typing in the background.

"Yeah his feet are cut up. I think he stepped in glass and he has scratch marks all over his head and his arms. Please help him!" Pidge yelled.

"We will, please do not worry. For the moment do not get near him so that he does not get even more worked up. If you can, please light a candle or spray an air freshener into the bathroom. Also please give us your address and my partner Allura and I will be over shortly." Romelle supplied.

Pidge gave her address and ran to her room to grab the apple cinnamon spray from her dresser. She started spraying it little by little into the bathroom, but Keith's condition did not change. He was still staring out into space with that same pained expression, tears flowing.

It was only about ten minutes until she heard a knock on the front door. When she opened it she saw two tall, slender, regal women, both dressed in hospital scrubs. They were also accompanied by a man with orange hair that was dragging a stretcher behind him.

Pidge invited them in and immediately led them to Keith. They took in the sight and sighed. The one that introduced herself as Allura turned to Pidge.

"Are you able to get into contact with Mr. Shirogane at the moment?" Allura asked.

"Um, no I haven't called him. I thought it would be a bad idea. They kind of split for a bit a couple days ago. That is why Keith was here." Pidge looked at Keith nervously.

"Unfortunately, we will need Mr. Shirogane here to give us permission to sedate Keith and take him with us for treatment. He is listed as Keith's emergency contact and advocate of care." Romelle answered.

Pidge sighed, before dialing Shiro's number.

Surprisingly for a workday Shiro was in her apartment in under two minutes, meaning he must have been at home. She did not see Lance though.

"What is going on?! What is happening?" Shiro panicked. He looked like hell Pidge thought. It looked like he hadn't shaved and there were dark circles under his eyes. Even his skin looked a bit dull.

"It appears that Mr. Kogane is having a bit of a dangerous PTSD episode. While most of these episodes do not require a hospitalization, I am concerned that he is hurting himself. It appears that he had stepped in glass and is scratching at himself." Shiro honestly looked like he might be sick, but Allura continued. "We are asking you if you will give us permission to sedate him, take him with us, treat his wounds, and have him for a 72 hour hospital stay to try to treat the issue."

"The issue is me." Shiro sighed. "Yes, I give you permission."

Allura nodded as she reached into her bag and grabbed a syringe. The man with orange hair carefully pushed past Pidge and followed Allura into the bathroom. Everyone but Pidge knew that this would not be pleasant.

Shiro turned away and walked out of the room right before Coran grabbed hold of Keith. Keith started screaming frantically, his voice breaking with his screams of desperation. They watched as Coran held him still while Allura injected him carefully with the syringe. Keith screams eventually began to die down as the sedative began to take effect. Pidge got out of the way as they carefully loaded Keith onto the stretcher. Romelle and Coran made their way out with Keith while Pidge gave Allura the run down of Keith's current health.

Allura made her way to the door. "Mr. Shirogane," she tried, but he didn’t acknowledge her. "Shiro," she tried again and Shiro looked at her with tearful eyes. "We will be in touch. He is in good hands." With that she left closing the door behind her.

It was a good five seconds before Pidge was startled by Shiro cursing loudly then falling to the floor, crying.


	5. Chapter 5

Pidge slowly made her way to crouch next to Shiro.”Shiro, I know that this is hard. Shit, that was hard to watch...but Keith will be alright. He’s getting help. He has been through this be-” 

“No!” Shiro cut Pidge off. He was still on his knees crying. “This time is worse. This time he thinks he is alone. Fuck, he thinks that we don’t love him. I-I-I don’t even know what to fucking do anymore!” Shiro yelled. Sobbing into his hands. 

Pidge got closer and awkwardly placed her hand on Shiro’s back, rubbing it up and down slightly. “Shiro, I know you love Keith. I know Lance loves Keith. Maybe things will be easier with therapy?” 

“You don’t get it.” Shiro groaned into his hands. He wiped his eyes with the palm of his flesh hand. “It’s not just Keith. Lance is depressed. Today was the first time he left the house in days and that was a struggle. He won’t talk to me. He sleeps in Keith’s bed and just cries.” New tears began to fall from Shiro’s eyes. “A-and I’m no better. I keep drinking because its becoming too fucking much.” Shiro sobbed again. “How the fuck do we fix it.?!” 

Pidge slowly made her way to the floor to sit cross-legged. The only sound that could be heard was Shiro crying and Pidge sliding her hand over his back in support. “Maybe…..maybe you and Lance should try going to therapy too?”

Shiro rubbed at his eyes and looked up at Pidge. “What?” he asked. 

“Maybe you and Lance should go to that emergency therapy like Keith did. It sounds like it's a small clinic. Maybe the three of you can use the time to talk about your issues and maybe there is a possibility they can host a group session for you guys to go over everything and hopefully heal things?” 

Shiro sniffed, but no new tears fell. “You think that they would take us?” 

“I think so. You and Lance are not handling the depression well and I think that you need someone else that is qualified to help you fix it.” 

Shiro thought it over while Pidge removed her hand from Shiro’s back. It was true that things right now were very messy and Shiro had no ideas on how to fix it. He was tired of seeing Lance and Keith cry. He hated that Keith had an episode. He hadn’t had one in a couple of months. Things were going good and he fucked it up. He was tired of feeling like his heart was broken. He was tired of going to bed alone and crying himself to sleep in solitude. 

“I-I think you are right. I would have to try to convince Lance to go though. I am willing to go, but Lance may be a bit hesitant. He’s not very forthcoming with therapy sessions.” Shiro mulled over his memories of when they were initially dating and Shiro was trying desperately for Lance to go to a therapist for his depression. It had taken weeks to finally convince him that outside help was needed and to schedule him a consultation. 

“Talk it over with him tonight. I think that you guys should try to get seen soon so that you could be paired up with Keith. Shiro,” Pidge called getting him to look at her. “I know that you love them both. I am confident that this will pass. I hate seeing you all like this.” Frowning she pushed up her glasses to try to detract away from her eyes tearing up. 

“Okay…” was all Shiro said. 

  
  
  


Shiro finally made his way back to the penthouse. He opened the door to find Lance’s sweatshirt laying on the couch signalling that he was home. He quickly checked his phone to see if Lance had texted him to find that he had not. Shiro sighed as he made his way over to Keith’s room where he knew Lance would be.

Sure enough, Shiro walked in to find Lance hugging one of Keith’s many cat plushies while laying on his bed, facing the wall. “Hey…” Shiro tried. Lance merely ‘hmmed’ in response. 

“How are you?” Shiro asked as he made his way over to the bed. Lance huffed but didn’t answer the question. “If you were looking for me I was with Pidge. Something ugh….something happened with Keith-” 

Lance turned around to face Shiro worry on his face. “What happened?” Lance interrupted. 

Shiro sighed before sitting down on the edge of the bed next to where Lance was laying. “He had a pretty bad flashback.” Shiro paused and Lance drew in a breath. “I know he hadn’t had one in a while. And this one….this one was pretty bad. Pidge called me saying that she contacted Paladins of Care. He’s with Allura and them now.” 

Lance’s face was contorted with pain as he made his way to turn over to face the wall again, crying into the cat plush. 

“Lance, we need to fix this.”

“Don’t you think I know that?!” Lance yelled back. 

Shiro sighed. “Lance, I think that we also need help too.” 

Lance remained quiet, still softly crying into the cat. 

“I think that maybe we should check ourselves in as well-” Shiro was cut off. 

“No.” Lance countered. 

“Lance, I think that we could use the help Keith-”

“No.” Lance said again, hugging the cat and folding in on himself tighter. 

“Lance, this is not just about Keith. I think that in order to fix the relationship with Keith we also need to work on ourselves.” Shiro voiced. 

“No.” Lance said again, but Shiro noticed that he wasn’t as definitive as before. 

“Lance, I have been having trouble since Keith left. I have been depressed and crying myself to sleep. And...I’ve been drinking more than I should. I don’t know that you noticed it since we have been distant as well.” Shiro sighed before placing his hand on Lance’s hip. “I have also noticed that you are having trouble with your depression. Baby, I think that we need help in fixing this.” 

“But-” Lance turned to him attempting to counter what Shiro had said. 

“Lance, don’t you want Keith back?” Shiro asked and as soon as he said it he knew that was not the right thing to say. 

Lance shot up to a sitting position on the bed. “How could you say that?! Of course I want Keith back! What are you going to try to manipulate me by using Keith as bait?” 

Shiro sighed yet again. “I said that wrong-”

“Yeah you fucking did.” Lance crossed his arms still looking angrily at Shiro. 

“What I meant to say is that I know you love him and I know that you are afraid. Lance, baby I know you.” Shiro moved to place his hand reassuringly on Lance’s thigh. “Therapy is terrifying, but baby, we can’t fix this on our own. I want the three of us to be together again. I want us to be happy again. I want to see you and Keith smile.” Shiro blinked to try to fight the tears. “I need Keith to know that he is loved.” Shiro was losing the battle in fighting back the tears. They quickly formed in the corners of his eyes. “Please, baby please, get help with me?” he squeezed Lance’s thigh again. 

Lance looked down at his lap, himself trying to fight back the tears. He had been to therapy before and he hated it. Sure, he had no problem with discussing other people's issues but he himself had a lot of trouble searching inside himself for answers. When it came to his mental health he wanted to pile things in a corner in his mind and never look back to them, pretending with a smile that everything was fine until he broke. But Lance knew deep down that this was not something that was going to go away by him ignoring it. He had spent the last couple of days attacking himself in his head, angry at what he had done. Yes he was afraid, but he was also afraid of losing Keith. 

Lance’s eyes betrayed him as tears began to fall into his lap. He sniffled to try to get himself back together a bit. Shiro gave his thigh another reassuring squeeze and the dam broke. Lance launched himself at Shiro and the two of them held each other as they cried into each other's shoulders. It took a couple of minutes before the both of them calmed down enough to get control of their voice. 

Shiro felt Lance choke a bit and clear his throat. “Yes….I’ll go.” Lance said as he hiccuped, still trying to get control back of his body. 

Shiro hugged him tighter. “Thank you. I love you so much.” Shiro said, kissing the side of Lance’s head. 

“I love you too…..and I love Keith.” Lance sniffled, finally getting control. He pulled away and wiped his eyes. 

“I’ll go ahead and give them a call. Get yourself ready.” 

  
  
  


When Keith woke up he felt groggy. His limbs felt like they each weighed a ton and his head was still fuzzy. There was also that sharp pain behind his eyes that wasn’t going away as he tried to blink away the light. Eventually his eyes adjusted to where he was able to look at where he was. The pain was still there, getting worse. 

He looked around the room and noticed that he was in a hospital room. An IV port, he thought, was sticking in each arm. He continued to look about the room and he saw a large red lion on the wall. Recognition hit him, he was with the Paladins. He must’ve had another breakdown, judging by the grogginess he felt, which he knew was partially attributed to having been drugged with a sedative. 

Keith moved his heavy feeling arm to the call button and called for someone to come into the room. Shortly after pressing the button, Allura made her way into the room. 

“Hello Keith, I am glad to see that you are awake. How are you feeling?” Allura asked, making her way to the side of the bed to check the machines that Keith was hooked up to. 

“Like shit.” Keith bit out. 

Allura chuckled. “Blunt as always.” When she was done fiddling with the machines she made her way to a stool at the side of the bed. “I bet you are wondering what you are doing here.” 

Keith sighed. “I must’ve freaked out.” 

“Well, what you experienced was a post traumatic flashback, which I am sure by now you are familiar with. When we looked over your medical records it seemed that you are also dealing with some other issues.” Allura turned quickly to grab her tablet off the counter behind her. “To my understanding you were suffering from the effects of an _H pylori_ infection. You are also underweight and anemic. We also had to remove a bit of glass from your feet. They have cuts on them and we would like to keep you off of them as they heal. I also see here that you struck your head pretty badly and you are no doubt still concussed.” Allura read off the tablet.

“Sounds about right.” Keith groaned as he pinched his eyes closed, wishing that piercing pain would just let up for a little bit. He also felt a little nausea bubbling up in his stomach but he fought that down. 

“Well, it appears that you are experiencing some head pain from the concussion. Am I also to assume that there is a bit of dizziness and nausea accompanying it?” Allura asked, placing the tablet back behind her and getting up to make her way to the locked medicine cabinet. 

“Yes,” Keith groaned pitifully as he attempted to pull the sheets up to hide from the light. 

“Well I can give you some Zofran for nausea and a bit of a heavy painkiller for your head. We have given you some IV fluid and the other tube is connected to a machine that is giving you an iron infusion. We ran some blood work when you arrived and it appears that your levels are still low. We can give you another one before you leave. After I give you these medications I would like for you to try to eat something. We can turn down the lights in the room to make it a bit bearable for you.” Allura fiddled with the cabinet getting the things together. She made her way back to Keith, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention.

Keith groaned but pulled the blanket down. Allura popped a small pill into his hand. “You have taken this before. Just place it onto your tongue and it will dissolve. I will inject the painkiller through your IV so that it will take effect quicker.” 

Keith dropped the pill in his mouth and cringed at the bitter taste as it began to dissolve. Allura slowly injected the pain killer. When she was finished she put everything in the trash. “I will have Romelle come in and bring you some food. As you are well aware this is not just a medical rehabilitation center, it is also a place to heal your mind. When you are finished eating we will see how you feel and start the initial intake procedure.” Allura said as she cleansed her hands, picked up her tablet and made her way to the door. “I do hope that you feel better Keith. Please let us know if you are experiencing any discomfort.” She then dimmed the lights a bit and made her way out of the room. 

Keith laid his head back on the bed with his eyes closed. The pain was still there, but slowly ebbing away. Keith sat there in the quiet and was soaking it in. His eyes continued to feel less strained and the nausea began to fade away as well. 

Keith knew that he was going to have to talk about his feelings while he was here and that bugged him. Deep down he knew that he wanted to get the issues with Shiro and Lance resolved, but he wasn’t sure how therapy was going to prepare him to have this conversation. He wasn’t sure if he could even have the conversation. His head was mixed up and that was not all due to the concussion. The flashback put old fears and thoughts into his head. He was already having a problem with the battling between being mad at Shiro and Lance and missing them deeply. He wasn’t feeling well and they weren’t here, soaking him in attention and supporting him. It hurt, and Keith was starting to wonder if he should have made that big a deal out of what they did. 

Keith was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Romelle come to the door. “Hi Keith. I’m sorry you aren’t feeling too good. We are hoping to help you and get you well again. It looks like I have some chicken, broccoli, and potatoes for you. Try to get some nourishment into you!” Keith was grateful that Romelle was talking in a quiet tone. 

“Thanks.” Keith said as he pushed the button to sit himself up a bit more. 

“No problem. After you are finished with dinner I will be back in here to go do a bit of talking, ok?”

“Sure,” Keith said as he picked up the plastic fork. 

Keith slowly ate the food. It wasn’t terrible, but it was definitely not as good as the food that Hunk was cooking for him back at the house. Keith zoned out a bit as he ate his food. He didn’t know if he could finish it, but the Zofran luckily cleared the nausea enough to give him a bit of an appetite. 

He ate as much as he could and laid back on the bed, sipping his ginger ale through a straw. 

“All done?” Romelle asked as she came into the room. 

“Yeah.” Keith said quietly. He held onto the ginger ale as Romelle cleared away the rest of the remains from the food, no doubt taking note of how much he ate. 

Romelle came back in and set herself up on a small folding desk and the stool that Allura had used. 

“I am sure that Allura had gone over why you were brought here, did she not?” Romelle asked. 

“Yeah, she said I had an episode.” Keith put the ginger ale down on the table in front of him. “I actually kinda remember that happening. I felt strange before when I was making a sandwich.” 

Romelle started to type a bit on her laptop. “Good, it is great that you were able to sense it a bit that it was going to happen. It is hard to recognize those signs. Now, do you remember what your flashback entailed?”

Keith flinched. “I don’t wanna talk about it now.” Keith knew that by the end of this stay it would be brought out of him at some point. He just wasn’t ready at the moment.

Romelle nodded, “Ok, that is fine. This is just an initial intake, we can go over more in depth later on.” Romelle stopped typing. “Now, I know that your injuries are causing you stress, but is there any additional stress that is being put onto you?”

Keith laughed, slightly regretting it because it caused his head to throb. “I had stress with Shiro and Lance before I got hurt. I was mad at them because they were acting like idiots.” Keith sighed. “When I got hurt they weren’t there. After waking up and not seeing them there I got really mad and confronted them…..and….I guess I kind of broke up with them?” Keith’s eyes began to water. “I...I don’t know if that was the right thing to do though….I think I made it worse….and they are mad.” 

Romelle typed on her laptop as she asked, “Would you be able to tell me about some of the things that you were upset about before you were injured?” 

Keith paused, trying to inventory all the frustration that he felt, which was hard to do with his head so foggy from the concussion and the painkiller. “I...I got mad that they were not paying attention to me…” Keith coughed a little to try to bite back the tears. “Saying that now sounds so stupid…” 

Romelle stopped typing. “Why does that sound stupid to you? I think that it is a valid reason to get upset.”

“No...I mean I think I overreacted….Yeah they got me mad….but I think I made things worse….” Those tears were still clouding his vision but he refused to let them fall. 

“I’m trying to get more of an understanding, can you give me examples of when they were not paying attention to you? What were the specific instances that upset you?” Romelle softly asked, well aware of the battle Keith was fighting with his tears, but not commenting on it. 

“They had a really big project….they were trying to get a major investor to join their company….And if the investor didn’t they would be big competition with their company….” Keith trailed off. “I realize saying it now that it was a big deal….that they did need to pay attention to that. It was the company’s future. They had a lot of stress on them and I was trying to get the attention away from what they were working on….”

Romelle typed, “While I acknowledge that this was a major stress for the company, as your partners, they still should have made you a priority over the company’s needs.” Keith looked at her ready to dispute what she said, but she cut him off. “Can you continue to tell me what instances happened?” 

She recognized that Keith’s low self worth was playing a major factor in translating the events. At this moment, Romelle would put little blurbs in to try to dispute it, while filing his reactions away to be discussed in a more in depth therapy session later on in his stay. 

“Shiro and Lance argued one night over some spreadsheets or something….Shiro was moving his arms around while he was talking and he knocked a plate to the ground…..I got scared….cause I am weak...and they didn’t come after me. I was upset because they didn’t see if I was ok….but I realize now how stupid that sounds.” Keith ground out clenching his fists against his thighs, head bowed.

“Can you tell me why you think it was stupid?”

Keith took a breath in. “Because it was a fucking plate...I-I shouldn’t be afraid over things like that. A-and they were trying to solve something, but I made it about me….And I was stupid because I got mad at them for not taking me with them to bed…..But I was the one who put myself in my room.” 

Romelle took a deep breath in, trying to resist the urge to prove to Keith that he was wrong, but this was not the time for it, nor the best method in showing him that he was wrong. This was just supposed to be a discussion of initial issues that would be evaluated and compiled into a plan of attack for dismantling them. Keith needed to be guided to shape his thinking, which was hard to do especially after an episode. 

“Can you explain to me another instance?” Romelle asked, patiently awaiting the next jumbled statement. 

“They were...they had to try to win over the guy that they were supposed to make a deal with….And they went out to a bar to have drinks with the guy. And they didn’t tell me what they were doing or answering their phone…..I guess it was rude if they were to look at their phones when they were with him….But, then they said….they said that I wouldn’t fit in at the bar…..and I get that….I’m not rich and put together like Shiro and Lance are….I would’ve embarrassed them….” Keith said as those tears threatened to come back. 

“Ok, is there anything else?” Romelle asked. 

“Um yeah, I wasn’t feeling good….and I distracted them from working and they got upset. But I get it. They were really busy…..and I just wanted attention I guess….I’m an adult I should’ve been able to handle it. But then that night they were tired and I was fidgeting and they asked me to get out of bed….and that hurt my feelings, but I understand why they did it. Then I got hurt….and I fucking regressed….I’m an adult I shouldn’t do that……” Romelle breathed in to try to refrain from voicing her opinion. “But I made it worse…..I yelled at them…. And I shouldn’t have. They probably hate me!” Keith yelled finally letting the tears flow. 

“I am quite certain that Shiro and Lance could never hate you. I don’t approve of their recent actions, but that is a discussion for a different session.” Romelle reached over and grabbed a tissue box and carefully placed it in front of Keith. 

“I r-ruined everything….” Keith said as he continued to cry. 

“Keith no you didn’t. I have a bit of news for you though.” Keith looked up at her questioningly. “Shiro and Lance have also checked themselves into the rehabilitation center for treatment. No doubt in hopes to fix themselves and the situation.”

Keith felt like someone punched him in the gut, “what?...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it took a bit for me to update! I am currently writing my master's thesis and unfortunately it is taking up a lot of my time. Thank you for reading! And also thank you for commenting! I would love to hear what you guys think!


	6. Chapter 6

Keith still didn’t feel right, his stomach was doing somersaults as he thought about the fact that Shiro and Lance were also getting treatment. Hearing that last night gave him a lot of trouble sleeping. How bad did it get? Did they get hurt? Were they mad at him? 

Keith’s head was swimming in all the questions. He had asked the nurse that wheeled him to the one on one counseling room if he would be given the chance to see them and she answered that he should ask Romelle. His anxiety was high as he curled himself up on the black couch that was in the room. He had been in this room several times before. Thankfully this time they were kind enough to keep the lights dim to protect his eyes. The bright hallway had given him a bit of a headache. He knew what to expect at this point and it still didn’t make him feel any better. He didn’t know if he was ready to talk about things. By being here he was forced to confront problems he didn’t want to acknowledge at the moment. He was a bit upset because he felt like that decision was robbed from him when Shiro signed off to get him treated. 

Keith’s thoughts were interrupted by Romelle coming through the door. “Hello Keith. My fellow councillors had conversed this morning and I volunteered to work with you, I hope you don’t mind. I thought that maybe it would be easier for you since you have talked to me before.” 

Keith grunted in affirmation while Romelle moved about the room to try to get everything ready. He assumed Romelle was setting up the camera. The sessions were recorded for future observation. Keith also figured it helped them out because he doesn’t recall ever seeing Romelle write anything down. Romelle then moved over to the white armchair that was located in front of the couch. There was a table that stood next to it where she placed her cup filled with water. “Oh! I forgot to fetch you some water. One moment.” 

Before Keith could stop her she ran out of the room quick to the break room that was located next door. She came back with two cups just in case and set them down on the small coffee table that was in front of Keith. “Now then,” Romelle said as she situated herself again in her chair. “I do apologize for keeping you waiting. My meeting this morning ran over time.”

“How are Shiro and Lance?” Keith asked in a quiet voice from his curled up position on the couch. 

“We can talk more about that later, but they are fine. They are not ill or injured. I am assuming the next question you will ask is when you will see them?” Keith nodded. “Well we had originally intended for a small group session for you all to meet later on today. We do have a short window of time to work with here since you are only here for three days.”

Keith didn’t say anything but he felt a knot in his stomach. He didn’t think he was ready to talk to them today. It was too soon. He didn’t know what his thoughts were yet. He hadn’t even dealt with his issues. How was he going to deal with the issues between the three of them?

“Well you have a bit of an amended schedule for today. We will be in one on one counselling for two hours then you will be taken to do a bit of mindfulness meditation. After meditation you will be given lunch. After lunch we will continue our one on one therapy. Then there will be a slight break before we meet for dinner. After dinner we will see if you are ready to meet with the others. Does that seem reasonable to you?”

Keith gave a delayed nod, but still kept quiet. He was going to do a lot of talking today and he didn’t really feel too good about that. 

“Ok, now then, shall we begin?” Keith nodded but still kept himself in the curled up position. His head was still killing him despite the dimmed lights. “So first question I guess, but how are you feeling?”

Keith took a moment to think. “Well my head hurts. And my stomach is queasy. And my chest hurts. And I am tired….I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Oh no, I am sorry to hear that. Would you like me to see if we can give you something for the nausea?” Romelle asked as she crossed her legs. 

“No, not yet. I guess we should save it for later.” Keith curled tighter.

“Ok, well I am sorry that physically you are not feeling so well. Allura had caught me up on your physical condition and it seems that you are still recovering from a nasty fall. There was also some mention about cuts on your feet. There was also some information about low iron too. That all sounds dreadful.” Romelle took a breath before she continued on. “Now how do you feel emotion-wise though? Can you tell me what’s going on in your head?”

Keith sighed. He hated counselling, he really did. He was taught all his life to keep his emotions hidden to himself and here he is supposed to air them out for others to see? “I feel sad. I-I know that sounds stupid, but I just feel sad. I….I feel guilty too. That all of this happened. I feel bad for making a big deal out of it. I’m really anxious...I don’t know what’s gonna happen….or what they are thinking. I’m worried…..do they still w-want me?”

“Well let’s unbox this a bit piece by piece, shall we? Can you identify what parts of all this make you sad? What are the key things that are sticking out in your mind?”

Keith swallowed. “Um...I’m sad that Lance and Shiro ignored me. I’m sad that I regressed and they weren’t there. I’m sad that even….even though they apologized I-I still felt so angry. I’m sad that I ruined everything….What I had in the flashback made me sad too…”

“You told me a bit about this yesterday, but I want to try to go about this a different way. Can you tell me what Lance and Shiro did to start this without adding anything about yourself? I know this is hard, but I would like to piece together their actions and analyze them one by one.”

Keith sighed. He wasn’t ready to talk about this. “The uh- the first thing was they were spending a lot of time at the office…” Keith really wanted to add that he had been selfish for being upset about that but he kept himself quiet. 

“I believe it was for a possible merger that was very important for their company?”

“Yeah. It was super important.”

“Do you feel like you are important, Keith?” Romelle asked, trying to coax him. 

”N-not as important as their merger, though. It meant a lot to their company.” Keith answered.

“Yes I do see that, but I also feel that you should be up there with the things that they consider important to them. What do you think about that?” 

“I...I think that the company is pretty high….I’m not worth it-”

“I am going to interrupt that thinking and tell you that you are in fact worth it.” Romelle paused. “Let me ask you something, do you think that Shiro thinks that Lance is more important than the company?”

“Well yeah, he’s his husband!” Keith responded. 

“What about you? What is your relation to them? I understand that they are married, but they entered a polyamorous relationship with you, which means that all partners in the relationship should be considered equal. Why is it that you feel that your role in the relationship is worth less?” Romelle probed. 

A knot formed in Keith’s stomach as he thought over what to say. “T-they are husbands though. I’m j-just a boyfriend. Husbands mean more….They knew each other for years….They just picked me up off the street.” 

“So, let us unbox this a bit. First, it seems to me that in the relationship dynamic you feel as if there is a bit of a hierarchy? From what you are telling me it appears that Shiro and Lance are at the top, since they are married. Does this mean that you consider yourself on the bottom tier of this? Do you feel that there is a separation in roles?” Romelle asked before taking a sip from her cup of water. 

“Um...yeah I guess...I mean I always thought that at least….I felt...I felt that I was kind of like a p-pet or something...They take care of me….and play with me….but I….I don’t feel like I have the same say as they do. Like they kind of control things….maybe? I don’t know.” This whole conversation was making Keith feel uneasy. This is not the direction he thought the session was going to take. 

“You tell me that they take care of you, but it seems that the actions that they have taken these past couple of weeks have led you to believe differently.” Romelle paused. “We will talk more about relationship dynamics later in the day. For right now, I would like to uncover a little more into the root of your problem.”

Keith nodded. He didn’t think he was going to be ready to talk about it later either. 

“Can you tell me the next thing that they did that made you upset?”

“Yeah… well they were out a lot for the company and one night they went out for drinks with their client. And I got worried because they weren’t paying attention to their phones. They didn’t….they didn’t tell me what they were doing.” Keith curled tighter into himself.

“It appears that there is a bit of a communication issue then. This may also be a part of the problems with priorities that I had mentioned earlier. You did realize though that this is not proper behavior for someone in a relationship?”

“Yeah...I got mad.”

“Filing that away for later to poke into, but can you tell me what transpired next? I believe that there was something mentioned about a plate?” 

Keith paused for a second. “Yeah...Lance and Shiro were arguing over the merger….and Shiro slammed his hand down on the table….the metal one…and it knocked a plate off the table.”

“And your response to this was to get away from the perceived danger?” 

“Yeah. But it was just a plate-”

“It still made you uncomfortable. These are the people in your life that are supposed to give you a sense of stability. They are aware of the things that trigger you or frighten you. I recall that the first time that you were placed in our care Shiro had given us a running list of things that bothered you. This means that he was aware of the things that bothered you and he still ignored them and did not go after you to check and see you were alright?” Romelle asked, taking another sip from her water. 

“Yeah- uh no- uh he didn’t come for me. But it wasn’t a big dea-”

“I am going to cut off that thought for right now because it is not a good contributing thought to add to this discussion. I do believe I stated that we were going to try to minimize your justifications for their actions as little as possible?”

Keith pouted, “Yeah but... it’s like we are making them to be evil…”

“Well, not necessarily evil, that is not my intent. My intent in all of this is to try to open up your thinking a bit past the hood of your trauma and analyze what they did so that we can talk about these issues later on.”

Keith didn’t say anything, but he fidgeted a bit. He was still unsure about all of this. He didn’t feel too comfortable about Romelle pointing these things out to him. 

“Now then, I think we left off at the part where you were starting to develop some symptoms of your illness? It has come to my attention that you are underweight. Were there any motivations behind your desire to avoid food?”

“Not really. I just didn’t feel too great. It could’ve been my stomach illness or my anxiety. Probably both at this point.”

“You can tell that you do not look healthy, I am afraid. You have always been on the fluctuating curve of underweight and normal weight. But, if I am able to see it, why did the ones that love you not see it?” Romelle questioned. 

Keith thought about it for a moment. “I mean I usually wear baggy clothes….maybe they just couldn’t tell under the hoodies?”

“Ok, we shall file that bit of information away.” Romelle thought over her next question. “You were not feeling well and you attempted to contact them?”

“Yeah, I texted them that I didn’t feel great. Lance came home and checked on me, but I didn’t have a fever, so he thought I was ok. Then he got a call that the merger was happening the next day. So he had to leave me.” Keith didn’t really see anything wrong with that. His boyfriends were busy.

“Shouldn’t he have stayed with you or taken you to the doctor if you were ill?”

”Yeah but, the merger was the next day. I mean….I get it?” 

Romelle sighed. “I believe this trails back to the issue of the worth you feel compared to the worth you place on the company.” Romelle paused, debating how she should approach the next question. “You had mentioned that they had kicked you out of bed. Do you think that this was the appropriate response to you being uncomfortable?” 

Keith shook his head, slightly regretting the movement as he head pulsed. “No...I don’t think they should have done that. I mean….I get that they had an important day but….they knew I wasn’t feeling well...they didn’t ask me what was wrong...they just kicked me out.” 

Romelle nodded. “I think that you are correct. I think that they should have asked you what was wrong before shunning you. I bet that you felt awful.”

“Yeah...it felt like they didn’t care about me….I was afraid that I didn’t fit into their life...that I was intruding. With everything that happened before I….I was just sad.” Keith sighed, fidgeting once again in his seat. 

“You feeling betrayed is a quite accurate emotion. Their actions were wrong and they hurt you in the long run. The next day I believe you had your accident and you regressed. You had expressed some anger at the fact that you had regressed. Is there a reason for this thinking?”

Keith thought about it. “I have always been kind of ashamed that I regress. I-Its not something that I am proud of...I never felt comfortable enough to regress until I had been taken in by Lance and Shiro. They made it so that I would feel comfortable enough for me to let go. That they would take care of me. That...that I could retreat to a different part of my mind when I couldn’t deal with what was going on.”

“So they have been caring and accommodating in the past?” 

“Yeah of course! They helped me so much, I felt comfortable and safe and loved….But recently I don’t.” Keith’s eyes filled with unshed tears as his voice hitched. “I don’t know what I did...to make them stop loving me…”

Romelle paused before supplying, “I am unsure if they have “stopped loving you” as you put it. I think that they got their priorities mixed and then ostracized you in the process. Keith, there is nothing that you have done that justifies anything of what they had done. They were in the wrong and you had every right to be upset.” 

Romelle let her statement hang in the air. She could tell that Keith was fighting back some tears. After a couple of minutes, allowing Keith to regain composure, Romelle felt comfortable to press forward. 

“Your friends were unable to get a hold of them for quite some time?”

Keith nodded. Stomach clenching.

“This links back into a trouble with their priorities and them ostracizing you. Do you believe it was intentional for you to be put on the side?” 

“I don’t think so. I think that they were just stupid and happy about it going well.”

“If that was the case then why did they not share this happiness with you? You are their partner, they should have included you in this celebration.”

Keith kept quiet, unsure of what to say. 

“I had mentioned that we were going to talk a little more about relationship dynamics later on. I am merely pointing this out so it comes to your attention so that we can discuss it later.”

Romelle took the time to take a drink from her water while also checking her watch to see how they were doing on time. She put the water down. “This is not the first time that I have met with you. We have met several times before and discussed as much of your childhood that we could get our hands into. But unfortunately, it appears that digging into one's childhood is like trying to dig a hole in the sand. You keep digging to get to the root of the problem, but sand keeps falling into the whole adding more to the discussion.”

Keith shifted a bit on the couch. He was not looking forward to talking about the next issue. 

“We know that from your past there are several instances where your worth was diminished. You had been hurt and abandoned by many, which also contributed to the trauma you have. Prior to your flashback, it seems from what you are telling me, you were quite angry at Lance and Shiro, rightfully so in fact. I was made aware that there was a confrontation about this the following day of your injury. You three had gotten into a heated argument and you had voiced your opinion that what they did was wrong, and it was. Why is it now that when we talk about what they had done, you diminish your worth and find justifications for their actions?” Romelle probed. 

Keith hesitated. “I uh- I had the mirror flashback….”

“Oh, well then that can explain a lot of it. That is a very traumatic flashback. I can definitely see why your thought process had changed.”

“I uh...when I started to think about everything with Shiro and Lance….I heard his voice….he was yelling at me about it. That I deserved it…” Keith swallowed, his eyes once again misting over.

“Keith, you did not deserve any of it. You did not deserve the treatment from your foster father, and you did not deserve any treatment from Shiro and Lance. I am assuming that the flashback caught you by surprise? I think you had mentioned that. Then we came and took you to our facilities.” Romelle took in a deep breath. “Unfortunately we cannot fix your deep rooted issues of worthlessness in the 72 hour period. I wish we could, but we cannot. You were going to counselling for quite some time and then you apparently stopped. Is there a reason for this?”

“I- yeah...Shiro and Lance used to take me…..because I was afraid….and when they got busy I didn’t bring it up.”

Romelle sighed. “This is another example of their demented priorities. I see that as being the theme for our discussion today. I do believe that a lot of this could have been avoided if they were not as invested into the merger as they were. Though they still could be invested in the merger and you. They made time for the two of them did they not? This may have been easier since they work together, but there were windows of opportunity for them to put you higher on their list.” 

They were interrupted by a light knock on the door. 

“I am sorry, it appears that for this session we have run out of time. We have done a lot of talking and a lot of new thoughts are floating around in your head. I know that this can seem a bit much. For this reason we have allotted time for you in a meditation room to go over and process some of these thoughts while also calming you down. We have spoken several times in the past about mindfulness exercises you can run through, so I will not subject you to that discussion again.”

Keith grunted, thankful that he could skip that lecture. Honestly he was eager to spend some time in the meditation room. In the room there were couches and oil diffusers and light music playing. He needed a break from all of these thoughts. He needed to stop analyzing everything. 

He wanted to go home. He wanted there to be a home to go back to. With all this thinking he was unsure if there was. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry to say that I might not be able to update for a couple weeks. I am currently in the process of writing my master's thesis and the deadline is coming up. I can't wait until school is over with because then I am most definitely throwing myself into my fics. Thank you for your support and thank you also to those that left me comments. They make my day and motivate me.


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